Cuomo: Use Labor Day weekend to help neighbors after Irene (update)

September 2, 2011

ALBANY - Upstate New Yorkers can help their neighbors still digging out from Tropical Storm Irene by taking part in a "Labor for your Neighbor" effort Sunday and Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today.

The state has created a website to help organize efforts at specific sites in the Schoharie Valley, Catskills and Adirondacks, where some of the worst flooding happened. Volunteers can get more information at www.governor.ny.gov/laborforyourneighbor .

"We need tremendous assistance in cleaning up ... old-fashioned elbow grease, just a bucket and a mop and a rake and shovel and a lot of labor," Cuomo told reporters Friday. "I will be part of it."

Cuomo encouraged New Yorkers who can't clean homes, businesses and streets of muck and debris to send a check to a United Way disaster fund.

"It won't be quick, but we are going to get through this," he said.

The Democratic governor also took at shot a Washington, where a fight over providing more disaster relief funding to the Federal Emergency Management Administration is being fought along partisan lines.

"Enough with the partisan bickering," he said. "Just do the job and perform, especially in a function as vital as this function."

"There is no Democratic or Republican way to shovel mud out of a house," he said.

Cuomo said Walmart, Home Depot and other stores are donating mops, buckets and other supplies.